Letter of support

by Jon Christopher Nelson

Dear Members of the Arts Council:

As President of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), I am pleased to write a letter in support of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. I feel that national electroacoustic organizations play a significant, if not critical role in promoting our respective nations' electroacoustic music. Although the International Computer Music Association plays an important role for electroacoustic musicians, it often cannot meet the needs of composers in the same way that a national or regional organization can serve its membership. In this regard, CEC is often looked to as a leader in providing a variety of support mechanisms for its membership. These services CEC provides are vast and include concerts of CEC music, CD recordings, CECDiscuss (perhaps the most significant resource for dialogue on the critical current issues in our field), and an impressive web site (containing comprehensive information on important competition and opportunity information as well as links to numerous sites that are helpful to composers of electroacoustic music).

Moreover, as President of another national organization, I often look to the CEC for feedback on issues concerning our organizations operations. Our national organizations often must grapple with similar problems. SEAMUS enjoys a healthy relationship with the CEC in which we share information in a manner that benefits both organizations. We invite CEC representatives to participate as ex officio members during our SEAMUS Board of Directors meetings. Moreover, the CEC has participated in our national conferences by presenting curated sound diffusion concerts of works by CEC members. This both promotes the music of CEC members while at the same time fosters a healthy sharing of ideas between national communities. Similarly, the CEC has invited SEAMUS members to curate concerts for their concert productions.

I believe that the CEC is worthy of any funding possibilities your arts council is able to provide. I can say with confidence that the CEC plays and will continue to play a major role in the greater electroacoustic community.

with warmest regards,

Jon

Jon Christopher Nelson, President SEAMUS: Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the US